By John Corrado
In his latest film, Darlene Love: I Know Where I’ve Been, Canadian documentary filmmaker Barry Avrich puts the spotlight on singer Darlene Love. The film won the People’s Choice Documentary Award at TIFF (the second year in a row for Avrich, following his The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue last year), and after watching it, it’s easy to see why.
This is a very enjoyable music documentary that deservedly gives Darlene Love her flowers, set to a wonderful soundtrack of her beloved classic songs. The film is first and foremost a portrait of her as an artist who had to fight and wait to get her rightful spot at the front of the stage. Love, born Darlene Wright, got her start singing backup vocals, as well as lead on songs “He’s a Rebel and “He’s Sure the Boy I Love” by girl group The Crystals. But producer Phil Spector didn’t want to credit her by name as a singer, lest she overshadow him.
Spector argued that he was the real artist, and was simply using Love’s voice as another instrument in his Wall of Sound arrangements, leading to their working relationship becoming increasingly strained. Watching the creepy footage of Spector in Avrich’s film reminds us that he was not only a musical genius but also a very disturbed and narcissistic individual, a dichotomy that exists throughout the arts.
Proper attention is given to Love’s masterpiece “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” a track off the classic 1963 holiday album A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector that ultimately became one of her most beloved songs. This was partially thanks to the revival it received when David Letterman started inviting her onto his show to perform it every year in the 1980s.
The highlight of Avrich’s film is Darlene Love herself, who, now in her mid-80s, appears lively and candid throughout. Love’s story, of course, was also featured in Morgan Neville’s Oscar-winning documentary about backup singers 20 Feet from Stardom, which is touched upon here, with Darlene Love: I Know Where I’ve Been in some ways serving as an expansion of that film.
An array of musicians including Bruce Springsteen, Townes Van Zandt, Cher, Dionne Warwick and Paul Shaffer sing her praises. Shaffer is also one of the guest musicians featured in new footage of Love in the recording studio, re-recording renditions of her classic songs for the film. These soaring musical performances provide a through-line that adds a sense of buoyancy to Avrich’s documentary beyond the talking heads.
Love’s three sons, now in their fifties and sixties, also speak openly about the challenges they have faced throughout their lives, and how their mother was always a steady presence who was there for them no matter what. As a Darlene Love fan, I had a great time with this one.
